This first semester
of the scope and method sequence focuses on a variety of issues that must be
considered when planning and executing a research project.The goals of the course are to introduce
major research strategies and data collection methods extant in the political
science literature and to lay out some of the philosophical underpinnings of
the social science research process.While POLS 602 is definitely not
a course in statistics, it will provide a very brief introduction to data
analysis that will help you better understand certain research design issues
and provide a useful bridge to other, more quantitative courses.

II.REQUIRED
READINGS

Royce
A. Singleton and BruceC.Straits, Approaches to Social Research (5thed.),

OxfordUniversity
Press, 2010.

Selected chapters from:Michael K. LeRoy, Research Methods in Political Science

(7th
ed.), Cengage-Wadsworth, 2009.These can be purchased as electronic “i-chapters”

Students also will read one of the following books for an assignment
in the second half of

the course:Richard Fenno, Home Style (1978) or John Kingdon, Congressmen’s Voting

Decisions (1989).The Fenno book
involves field research that borders on participant

observation.The Kingdon study
features in-depth interviews with political elites.

Other required readings in the form
of online articles, available on the POLS 602 Blackboard

website,
e-reserves, or at www.jstor.org, also
appear in the syllabus.

III.COURSE
REQUIREMENTS

Class Participation.Although I will be lecturing more than would
be the case if the class had a traditional, seminar format, I expect everyone
to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings.

Exams.A midterm and a final exam will be given.

Computer Exercises.Four or five computer exercises will be
assigned during the semester.Each will
receive a grade of “pass,” or “fail.”Inadequate exercises can be redone and resubmitted.Failure to achieve a grade of at least
"pass" on all assignments will result in a one-letter reduction in
your course grade.No one should be
frightened by these assignments.No
previous experience with statistics is required and all work can be completed
in the POLS Computer Lab on the first floor of Zulauf Hall, or in the SOCQRL
computing lab in DuSable Hall.The extra
fee charged for taking POLS 602 helps fund this very useful research facility
which was established by Professor Charles Cappell.If you happen to run into Professor Cappell, please thank him for his willingness to share the
Sociology Department’s computer labs with us.

Research Design.Each student will prepare an original
research proposal based on a topic of his or her choice.Additional guidelines for the proposal will
be discussed in coming weeks.All
proposals must include procedures for testing a causal hypothesis, and
the procedures chosen should maximize (within reason and within the bounds of
practicality) your ability to conduct a rigorous test of the hypothesis.Two preliminary elements of the design are
required before the end of the semester:

Annotated Bibliography (3-5
pages, due by Week 6).To ensure that
everyone gets started

on the
research proposal in a timely fashion I will ask you to start digging into the
political

science literature right away and
generate an annotated bibliography based on the studies

you locate.This preliminary paper should: (1) provide a
brief description of your research

problem; and (2) briefly summarize the salient features of at
least six books, book chapters,

or
articles in scholarly journals that have relevance for your final research
proposal.One good

paragraph
for each work cited should be satisfactory.With additional work, this initial

bibliography
should evolve into the literature review portion of your research proposal.

Research Design Prospectus
(maximum 3 pages, due by Week 11).This
second preliminary

Paper
will provide a brief summary and overview of your final research design as you
envision

it at
Week 11.It should include:(1) a brief description of your research
problem; (2) one or

more specific hypotheses to be
tested; (3) an O’s and X’s scheme that applies to your anti-

cipated research design, along with
supporting discussion (this will make more sense as

time
goes on); (4) tentative plans for collecting and analyzing the data needed to
test your

hypotheses.

Final
Research Design.Your final
research proposal should be approximately 15-20 pages

in
length (typed and double‑spaced).All proposals are due on November 30.Late papers

will be
penalized at the rate of one-third of a letter grade per day.

Grading System.Final grades will be computed as follows:

Exam
I30%

Exam
II30

Annotated
Bibliography5

RD
Prospectus5

Final
Research Design 20

Class
Participation10

100%

IV.WEEKLY TOPICS
AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

You are responsible
for all of the readings listed on the following pages as
"required."Journal articles
can be found online at www.jstor.org.Readings marked as "suggested" are
just that—suggested in case you want to read more about the topics covered that
week.

The following
journal abbreviations are used in the outline:

APSR =American
Political Science Review

AJPS=American Journal of Political Science

POQ=Public Opinion
Quarterly

Week 1 – Overview of course and a preliminary look at
the nature of scientific inquiry

8/24

Required:Singleton and Straits, Preface and Ch.
1.

Week 2 – Epistemological Issues: science as a philosophy
of knowledge or method of knowing; the

8/31the
nature of concepts and theories; stages of social research; getting started